Ingleborough

The distinctive shape of Ingleborough is due to the local geology, a broad cap of millstone grit
atop a broader plateau of carboniferous limestone.
Streams running off the millstone grit meet limestone rock further down the slopes where they
disappear underground, falling into deep potholes and caverns such as those at
Gaping Gill
on the moors above
Clapham
and
Alum Pot
and the
Long Churn
/
Diccan Pot
system near
Selside
in upper
Ribblesdale.

After passing through complex underground cave systems these streams emerge at resurgence caves
lower down, often at points of geological unconformity where the limestone lies on top of non permeable rock strata.
In the case of the
Gaping Gill
system, the main resurgence occurs at
Beck Head Cave
in
Clapdale
- adjacent to the main entrance of
Ingleborough Cave
(to which it is connected).